


Acute Stress Response

by Pepsi (Pepsiiii)



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Achilles is a good mentor, M/M, Zagreus muses aimlessly until hypnos finally kisses him, talks of hunting, thanatos is there for a moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27663224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pepsiiii/pseuds/Pepsi
Summary: Hypnos was scary, Zagreus decided one day (or night— regardless) while watching Hypnos laugh happily at the sight of a shade dancing in place as they waited in line.OR; Zagreus thinks the god of sleep is something to be feared
Relationships: Hypnos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 232





	Acute Stress Response

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a trade with the very kind Moosh! I got muppet Hypnos and they got .. whatever this is!!! Hope you all enjoy
> 
> Sorry for typos editing is hard as shit

Hypnos was scary, Zagreus decided one day (or night— regardless) while watching Hypnos laugh happily at the sight of a stocky shade dancing in place as it waited in line. It wasn’t anything too different than usual, nor was it extremely worrying or something worth being afraid of like that. It was just the secretary of hell clapping along to the self-made music of a jolly shade. A bright smile on his face, a loud laugh in the air, the stifling glare from an overworked boss.

Nothing new. 

Zagreus sees it, watching as it happens; hearing it as it happens, and finds his skin prickling as he notices the creases on Hypnos’ eyes from how hard he’s smiling. The bumps in his skin, as Achilles explained, are signs of fear.

So naturally, Zagreus is afraid. 

.

Hypnos was scary, Zagreus remembered when he saw how the tired god’s eyes brightened when Thanatos dropped by to talk to Zagreus and (to Thanatos’ apparent dismay, if his expression said anything) Hypnos. Their conversation, if it could even be called that, lasted an entire 2 minutes (short even for Thanatos) and yet those eyes shined as if it was an hour-long heart-to-heart between friends. Or maybe brothers. 

(Considering what they were, that somehow made it worse, not that Zagreus picked up on that). 

Zagreus had walked up, dripping from the River Styx as usual, when saw the eyes. Bright and excited; wide ( _ more than usually possible for such a tired creature _ ) as Hypnos nodded dutifully at whatever it was Thanatos was trying to instill in him. Zagreus watched the familiar picture with a chill down his newly reformed spine. The blood had begun to disappear, soaked into him or perhaps frayed by the heat within the house, and all that was left was a frozen stance and bumped arms. The house was safe from all that could possibly wish to harm Zagreus, all the wretches and witches locked deep within the scorching bowls of the underworld around them, and yet— he couldn’t quite breathe.

Achilles had told him that when the body cannot take in air, that is a symptom of fear. Or suffocation. 

Zagreus doesn’t feel hands around his neck or any sort of grip on his lungs, but even with that truth known the air he enjoys so much was gone, replaced with ash. He stares at those eyes, that smile, and hears the laugh and joyous “ _ of course Thanatos!”  _ before the tolls of retreating death ring out, surrounding them all for an instant. He sees Hypnos and Hypnos sees him, a smile is sent to the prince of hell, and Zagreus, as his lungs constrict from the lack of air, thinks he is afraid.

.

Hypnos is scary, Zagreus supplies as his brain sits empty. They’re sitting together in the lounge. Hypnos is staring at Zagreus, has been for about an hour now, without blinking.

Achilles had said once that in the mortal realm, there were plenty of creatures who survived by trapping others and eating off them. They would watch their prey unblinking, waiting for the perfect moment to attack. 

He said that, should Zagreus ever encounter this, his body would go into a ‘ _ fight or flight mode’.  _ Everything within his body that isn’t needed to  _ survive  _ would shut down, replaced with the pure mindset of survival. He would run and fight. He would survive, spurred on by the fear of death.

Zagreus had asked, as children do, about the other one.  _ Flight.  _

Achilles had laughed. It was a bitter chuckle more accurately and said “ _ you’re a warrior lad. You won’t run from the danger. You will fight. There is no other option.”  _

He looks at Hypnos now, noticing lips and cheekbones. He images the creatures on earth and thinks, should they be anything like this, that their survival makes sense. 

.

Hypnos was terrifying, Zagreus gasps. 

He's prey. He didn’t think so at first. The same way he thought fighting Lernie was little more than a headache or perhaps the way he thought those vermin were just a pain in the back. He was above them.

_ Fight or flight.  _ He fought. He ran forward towards the danger. He allowed the fear to push him, never hold him, but to lead him. To fight without regrets. 

But now, under an actual god, he is rethinking. He is reconsidering. He is recontextualizing his actions till now. 

He doesn’t yet, but at this moment he doesn’t believe he’ll live to regret it. He doesn't believe he’ll ever live past this. He’s seen shades who die to the hands of sleep. He feels excited to join them. 

Hypnos holds his hand, grazing his thumb over Zagreus’ palm. His eyes wander up and down his torso, landing on his eyes. They’re staring.

Zagreus stares back, ignoring the dumps on his skin; the chill down his spine; the constrictions within his chest; the silence within his mind. 

Hypnos leans in and Zagreus thinks ‘ _ this is what mortals feel.’ _

Hypnos kisses him and Zagreus thinks, for an instant, he is petrified. He feels the warm kiss of sleep and lets the feeling engulf him. He was drowning; he was sinking; he was burning underneath the stare from the god of all that is resting. He is now gasping; he is feeling; he is  _ everything  _ underneath the god of all that is alive yet so close to death.

Zagreus, as his neck is adorned with the bite marks of a creature far more dangerous than himself, says that Hypnos is utterly terrifying. 

Hypnos laughs (the room is boiling or perhaps frozen. The poison in his veins has taken over his mind. He can’t look away, can’t pull away, he simply is) and Zagreus feels his hands grazing the bumps. 

_ "You seem scared Zag... It's cute!" _

The prince of hell is afraid, truly (and entirely), and nothing could possibly be better. 

**Author's Note:**

> talk about Hypnos with me @MrsHaiiba on twt lol!! comment too, those make me write more I assure you


End file.
